Philbin broached the topic because the first episode of Hard Knocks (debuting Tuesday night on HBO) apparently includes Philbin being interviewed after he accidentally over-applied cancer-killing cream to cells on his forehead.

“I must have put on too much,” Philbin said. “The thing swelled up. I looked like I got hit by five left-hooks right in my forehead. The point of the story is that I had to do an HBO interview, so I’ve got this hat, I can’t even put it on. . . . So it’s on the thing.”

Philbin told me last Monday on The Dan Patrick Show that the first-year head coach hasn’t watched, and won’t watch, Hard Knocks. Philbin now seems to at least be entertaining the possibility of checking it out.

“The long answer to your question is probably not,” Philbin told Gould. “Am I scared? I’m scared of me on TV, yeah. I’m scared of me, but I’m not scared of the information or leakage or any of that kind of stuff. I’m not even worried about that one bit, but I am worried about me.”

It’s not an uncommon concern. Take it from a guy who was on TV for 15 hours last week — and who saw just enough of it in HD to realize that I need to hire Edward Scissorhands to clean up my nostrils.